On your knees
by AccountClosedCept4PMingPhoenix
Summary: Over the years, a lot of people might have wanted to see Nikola Tesla on his knees, but none of them would have wanted it like this. The Vampire Queen is back to shake the world, and is Helen gone forever? T for suicide, death, possession, and Tesla.
1. Ghost Hunting

All my author notes are important, that's why I write them. If you like this story, you'll probably be glad you read them. So please just bear with me and read them! **The important one is AT THE END OF THIS CHAPTER.**

ON YOUR KNEES

Chapter One, Ghost Hunting

Nikola Tesla was trouble enough, without adding the words 'in her Sanctuary' and 'asking to see her'. Nonetheless, it was bound to be interesting if nothing else. Helen pursed her lips and shuffled the paperwork into an orderly stack of black lines. She could leave that for later, she decided. Perhaps she could save her wine cellar a costly blast if she got down there quickly enough.

She clicked down the polished gray stairs in her high heels, a slight feeling of apprehension rising as she approached where he was standing.

He spun around, waggling a finger at her as he did so. "Ah, Helen!"

Henry stepped up next to him, slightly frowning at Nikola. "Doc, he says he has some important news about Iffy-na or someone-or-rather.

Helen stopped short. "Afina?" she asked, a wild suspicion coming to mind.

"Oh yeah, that was it." Henry frowned one last time at Nikola, and then walked off, messing with his tablet computer as he did so.

"What's going on?" she asked, swallowing. "I thought Afina was dead!"

"Well, she is." Nikola bit his lip.

Helen surveyed the black suit he was wearing. Did his wardrobe consist entirely of suits and leather jackets? At least it was one and not the other, she supposed lightly. "What exactly do you mean?" she pushed the silly thoughts of suits and leather jackets out of her mind. It was unnecessary and certainly not important.

"Well," he began. "You remember the words we found on her tomb, the ones that said she would rise in the aftertime?"

"Yes..." Helen waited for him to elaborate. Knowing Nikola, it was better to just wait.

"That meant that she would reclaim the throne after her brother's turn was over, but it also meant something else." Here he swallowed, flicking his fingers around a lot. He must be nervous, she thought to herself.

"What does it mean?" she prompted, the feeling of dread increasing as the wait did.

"The ruling class of vampires never changed, really. Some were assassinated but they were assassinated not to kill them, but to put them out of power."

"What do you mean?" she asked, putting a finger to her lips.

"When a vampire of that level of power died, they had the ability to possess another vampire. However there was a lag period in between in which the 'dead' vampire's essence could be captured, put back in their body, and put in stasis. Afina went into stasis willingly." He told her, now his dark eyes fixed on hers.

"What are you saying, Nikola?" she asked nervously, unable to leave his eyes.

"I'm saying Afina's essence could possess anyone with vampire blood left at the soonest in a couple of hours." He told her flatly.

*.*

"Remind me why we're going back to Columbia again?" she asked him. She was sitting in a private jet, resting her feet on the tan carpet and looking to Nikola for a response.

"Well, I think she's most likely to possess someone close to where her essence dies. Which means, if we go in with precautions we stand a better chance than simply waiting for her to possess one of us." He said, and then added, "Or John, which we have no idea where he is."

"Indeed," she said, gritting her teeth. Something about this felt wrong. "What precautions did we bring?"

"We have sedatives to be used as a last resort, stunners, tranks, normal guns in case it's me and I beg you to shoot me..." he trailed off. "Also we have radios to contact the Sanctuary in case anything goes wrong."

She frowned. "This had better work, 'Mr. Tesla'. I really hope the outfit doesn't come with it," she added.

He laughed. "Helen my dear, if it did and you were possessed, I wouldn't be complaining."

"And if you were possessed and it did?" she teased lightly.

"You have a point," he conceded.

*.*

"So we're going in the other side, as it were?" she asked skeptically.

"This underground city was huge. There are some other tunnels which weren't blown up by the vampire detectors - Afina's essence might have fled there." He told her matter-of-factly.

"Then it's time to hunt down a ghost." She said.

The dark tunnels stood in front of them, as if whispering to them.

_Come to me._

**If you like it, leave a little review with that cute little button. Also this is probably confusing, but I'm really fed up with being told my work is confusing (even when it actually isn't, and I'm not referring to this story), so if you think it's confusing maybe you could help me out a little with how to make it less confusing in the future. Thank you everyone.**

_~Iceshadow~_


	2. Possession

**Special thanks to Ty, especially for being my first reviewer and encouraging me with this fanfiction, and also special thanks to joan of arc for reviewing!**

Chapter Two, Possession

Helen stepped warily through the tunnels. She disliked the silence, apart from their footsteps and Nikola's breathing. She shut her eyes and tried not to think of what could happen if Afina possessed him.

Nikola paused, sweeping his flashlight over the expanse of dirt-covered stone. "This might be an entrance point."

"To?" she asked, frowning slightly.

"Well, it's different from the rest of the wall. See, it's all smooth?" he ran his hand over the surface.

"Right..." she decided reluctantly she'd better just let him figure out a way in. The sooner this was over the better. As much as she disliked admitting it, Helen was just slightly afraid of what could happen.

"Hey, who got us in?" he asked proudly, smirking up at me. The huge stone slab slid backwards, making a rather abrupt thud as it fell to the ground. Somehow it did not remind Helen of the technologically advanced vampires, but rather of their simple thirst for blood.

"Yes, yes, Nikola. Well done," she patronized him.

He smirked even more, although she would have thought it wasn't possible. "Well, ladies first," he gestured grandly to the entrance.

She smirked back at him. "Afraid, are we?"

He did an exaggerated bow which, given the circumstances, only aggravated her more. She brushed past him without another word, leaving him pursing his lips and looking back at her.

"Dear God." Instead of the hard, purple crystalline surface that Helen remembered from the vampire queen's lair, an almost identical chrysalis stood before her. However, this one was soft and pliable, like jelly.

"I wonder if this is what the other one was like before Afina stepped into it." Nikola rubbed his chin, looking intensely at it from the corner of his eye.

"Well... In that case, what do you think happens if we step in it?" Helen proposed carefully.

"Is that really smart?" he said skeptically.

"Probably not wise until we know more," Helen observed. However, standing next to the mysterious structure, she felt somehow pulled towards it. She bit her lip as she looked into the mysterious object. "But maybe..." she said.

He wasn't looking at her. Maybe... she could just...

Her hand reached tentatively up to brush the surface of the fascinating structure. Suddenly, she yelped.

Helen's fingernails were elongating. Her eyes were blackening.

"Helen!" Nikola whispered in pure fear as he looked at her.

Afina had chosen the woman he loved, and he might never get her back.

**I'm sorry it's short. If you read it... you know where I'm going with this. Reviews are what give me my inspiration, my reason for... well, in this case not writing, but uploading the next chapter. (It's prewritten). Thanks again to Ty and joan of arc for helping me along with this!**

~Iceshadow


	3. Sweet Betrayal

**Oh thank you, reviewers! Thanks this time goes to Sanctuaria and xxmelusinexx! So here we are again, sorry for the short chapter but as soon as I get a review and am on the computer I'll upload the next chapter. Enjoy!**

Chapter three, Sweet Betrayal

She rapidly kicked the gun out of his hand, smashed the vial of sedatives, and knocked him to the floor. All in one movement, she was back to normal; as normal as she could be any more.

"Silly boy," she hissed down at him.

He said nothing, but his face was ashen.

"You thought I would choose you, for your power; but Helen Magnus has global power. Oh yes, and I plan to use it. Get up," she snarled.

Nikola rose slowly to his feet, as if moving through honey.

"Now, get on your knees," she sneered.

She kicked him to the ground. His knees landed there with a thud, but it was all he could to do stop from collapsing. Helen was gone; his Helen was gone. Now, in her place, stood the vampire queen he had once admired. He was tempted to repeat the insult he had formerly assigned to her, but thought it might not be wise under the given circumstances.

Oh, it was all happening too fast. How could he have been so stupid? He thought guns, sedatives, and of course he and Helen would be enough to deal with Afina. They had rushed in without a second thought and now he was being made to regret it. The only consolation was that he was alive and could try and think of a way to save Helen. That was really the only thing that mattered.

"Listen up, mongrel." Her voice was cold. "We are going to go back to the Sanctuary network, and you aren't going to breathe a word. Got it? You're going to go along with everything I say or this world will go down around your head. I'll kill you, and everyone else in the Sanctuary network who you told. You have nothing to win by telling them, so be a good boy and play along." She grinned, and walked away.

Nikola sagged. Now he knew how it felt to be enveloped in a whirlwind of hurt from someone he thought he could trust. He felt a slight twinge of remorse for the times he had betrayed Helen.

He got to his feet and staggered slightly after Helen - no, Afina. Sweet, sweet, betrayal, he thought glumly to himself.

*.*

The minute Tesla and Helen got back, Will and everyone else were there. "Magnus! How'd it go?" Will asked.

"We think that we actually destroyed Afina with the Praxians' technology," she said with a confident smile. "Obviously neither of us got possessed." She added slowly.

"Hey Doc, it's great to have you back!" Henry said, looking away from his tablet laptop for a moment.

Kate smiled and the Big Guy made the noise Tesla had always thought of as something like a dog barking.

"So, does that mean I can give you your fair share of the paperwork back?" the psychologist asked eagerly.

"Yes, yes. Now come on, don't you all have jobs to be doing?" she sent everyone running in true Magnus-fashion.

Afina played Helen's role so well that he could almost believe her soothing words of denial. Unfortunately, it didn't last.

"Oh, it's good to be back." She smirked up at the Sanctuary network. "And all of my darling 'abnormal' friends are going to help me with my new plans. You'll help too, half-breed."

As she walked towards her office in her usual high heels, with Helen's usual stance; Nikola wished it was really her. Oh, how he wished it. But he had a sinking feeling that Helen was gone, to be replaced with Afina forever.

**Well, that would be kind of a lame ending, wouldn't it? So if you liked it and want more, review and you'll have it.**

~Iceshadow~


	4. Like mother like daughter

**This time thanks goes solely to Lara Jane Magnus for reviewing and encouraging me!**

Chapter Four, Like Mother like Daughter

The Sanctuary was dark and most of its inhabitants were asleep. But in Helen's lab, there were brief flashes of light radiating through the black night air. Nikola Tesla stepped ever closer to the door, hoping not to be heard by the vampire queen. Of course, this was in vain.

A cold hand suddenly gripped his throat and tightened, letting him feel the knuckles clearly. She lifted him clear off his feet and though he knew she wouldn't kill him it was a terrifying sensation.

"Thought you could sneak up on me, 'Dracula'?" her cold voice rang out of the darkness.

"That's a highly offensive stereotype." He complained.

"That's why I chose it," she replied, finally letting him down back onto his feet.

"So, I see you've been catching up on the past centuries' misconceptions about vampires," Tesla said sorely.

"Oh yes, they are very interesting," she drawled. "Now, what are you doing sneaking around?" she narrowed her eyes almost imperceptibly in the darkness.

Nikola Tesla said something he never thought he would say. "Er..."

She snarled ever so slightly, and shoved him out of the laboratory. "Get back to your bed."

"I never thought you'd ask," he said almost as an instinctive reflex.

Afina stood stock still for a moment. After he said it, he wondered if she had understood the implications. Well, she had been in stasis for several hundred years. Nonetheless, he reminded himself to think twice before saying the first thing that came to his mind.

"I do not intend to have any royal contesters for the throne," she said. She shut the door with a thud behind him.

"Feisty," he said immediately. He winced. He really had to stop doing that. It seemed hundreds of years in stasis had not affected her brains ability to read his; only her sense of humor.

Suddenly, something hit him. It hit him hard.

Children.

Helen.

Afina.

Vampires.

Ashley.

*.*

He sat at his desk, his thoughts playing out over and over again. His hands shook almost uncontrollably as the lamp light shone over his open notepad. Inside it were a few scribbles of formulas he had been writing down before he heard Helen up in the lab. How could he even be thinking this?

But it might work. If he used the weapon he created to kill Ashley on Helen, he could capture Afina's essence and then try to revive Helen. What if it worked? Could it work? It all depended on if there was some other way to stop her and what kind of damage she could cause.

Inside he was crying. He knew he had to do it. He had cursed Helen at least three times for making him stupid and thinking about this bigger picture.

He looked slowly at the bottle of red wine on his desk. It was untouched; partly because he was shaking so much, and also because there was no bottle opener.

*.*

Nikola heard her talking from his room. His blood went cold.

"It is my belief that Big Bertha's changing moods and attempts to get out of containment have gone too far. I have been in denial too long and I hope you will forgive me. Of course, we will need to take her out of stasis to annihilate her." Afina's address to them was brusque, but she quickly smoothed it down.

Being the genius he was, he could easily follow where her mind was going. For only a moment did he stop to wonder in complete confusion why she would want to kill Big Bertha. She did not want to kill Big Bertha at all, but to take her out of stasis and use her to destroy the earth, bringing the governments and the armies to their knees. She could also use it to secure terms of surrender if she made the threat clear.

It did not matter there were only two vampires on the earth, and one intent on stopping her, when she had an abnormal of that power. She also had control of all the other abnormals in the Sanctuary network.

There was no doubt in his mind that she knew he was determined to stop her. She knew he was just waiting for his moment; Afina was not a vampire for nothing. He would have to plan carefully, but he had something she did not know of.

The weapon. How he wished he wouldn't have to use it. _She'll be alright,_ he told himself. _She'll come back. She has to come back._

*.*

"If you press that key on that computer, I will kill you right now." Nikola Tesla stood poised in the doorway, holding the heavy weapon upright in his arms, pointing at the woman he loved.

Helen Magnus straightened. Her finger was inches above the key that would initiate the command to release Big Bertha from status; of course she had no intention of killing her. "Well, well. The vampire lover boy has something up his sleeve after all, and I thought it was just that he couldn't find the bottle opener. Crude design, I must admit; but effective." She smiled; that smile only Helen should smile. "What are you proposing, Nikola?" Afina drew his name out, as if it were a form of torture. For him, it was.

"Step away from the keyboard and we can talk," he swallowed. _Please, just get away from that keyboard and then I don't have to do this._

"Not likely. Let me tell you something, Tesla. You can't revive her after my essence has fled into that crystal you plan on holding it in." Helen snarled.

She had known about his plan. Of course she had known. She had seen the crystal atom threads he had been playing with in the lab when he thought she wasn't looking. What she hadn't known was how he was going to kill her.

"Really?" he asked stupidly; of course he was trying to sound intelligent, but it was all that came to mind at the moment.

She grinned a wide grin, and then her finger began to move towards the key. "One of my human servants was in love. She would do anything for her true love; and she would never, ever, do anything to hurt them. You're bluffing, vampire."

The shot rang out through the room.

Helen Magnus fell to the ground dead.

**Uhhh... Ohhh... Yes, cliff hanger. Review and the next chapter will be yours! Warning: Six-shot!**

~Iceshadow~


	5. A time to die

**Once again I thank my only reviewer, Lara Jane.**

Chapter Five, a Time to Die

The wine bottle rolled to the floor, smashing. The hammer slowly dropped onto the table.

"Dude," Henry began.

"I don't want to hear it!" Nikola thundered.

Three hours had passed since he had killed Helen. While Afina's essence had been successfully trapped and he had prevented the release of Big Bertha, he didn't care. Nikola had spent the past three hours trying every method on earth of trying to revive Helen. None of them had worked. While the rest of them could swallow and gulp and laugh nervously about the mad scientist, they all truly believed some miracle would save their boss. He knew there would be no miracle unless he made one. None of the conventional methods had tried, so an hour ago he had tried to revive her with bolts of electricity.

She was dead. He was the only one that really knew it, and he pushed it away. Denial and mind numbing anger was better than the cold empty space that words could not describe when he finally admitted she was gone. Now he stood in front of a blazing fireplace, with a hammer in hand and trying to destroy the machine he had built. The machine he had killed her with.

Henry was there to try and get the plans away from him. They were, and now that Nikola Tesla had become 'the mad scientist', not so reluctantly following Will Zimmerman's orders. They couldn't let him burn the plans and they knew he would bring Magnus back. Somehow they all instinctively believed it. They all wanted him to get back to trying, not hammering the machine which they might need to pieces.

He had stolen the plans right under Tesla's nose without him even noticing. The vampire was truly at a loss for what to do. But he couldn't give up. He felt that somehow smashing the machine might help and it might bring Helen back. He felt a laugh swelling up inside him but he couldn't laugh. Not when he so desperately needed to save Helen. No, no, no; this couldn't be happening. He wouldn't let it happen.

The hammer brought a huge flash of electricity. His hand was bleeding and he didn't even care. He had smashed the machine he had killed Helen with clean in two.

He laughed. Nikola laughed. After a moment, everyone knew. Everyone knew it was too late for Helen. He would not laugh until he had saved her or completely, utterly given up. He would not give up unless there was no way to bring her back. Everyone was silent. How could she just be gone like that? How they knew, none of them were really certain. Even Will, the psychologist, was at a loss to explain how he knew.

Of all of their grief, Tesla's was the most intense. For all of the others, there could be an explained reason why they felt the way they did. For Will, it was the responsibility and the fact that the amazing woman he knew, who had no fear of what others called monsters, was gone. For Henry, it was that the woman who had helped him so much, who had helped him even when he was an orphan; that she was gone and she would never come back and she would never help him again. For Kate, it was that she secretly feared in a selfish way that now Helen was gone she would go back to being the girl on the streets who no one cared about.

All of their reasons were selfish.

For Tesla, it was a burning fire inside of him and at the same time a downpour of grief that would not stop. It was _his fault._ It was all _his fault._

He had simply loved her. There was no real reason; he could assign all those adjectives that described her and would make a man love her, but deep down inside what he believed was that he just loved her. There was no reason except that she was Helen and she was amazing and now she was just gone. The woman he loved was gone because of him. He could assign a million little tragic romantic thoughts to that simple truth, but in the end she was just gone.

It made him want to scream and do something stupid and bring the hammer down a million times, destroying something. Maybe he could bring it down on his hand and that would help the pain somehow; the pain of losing her.

So it was none of them noticed when he was gone. When he had gone to a secluded cliff and left them all a brief note on his desk. None of them noticed he had gone to join the woman he loved, because they assumed he was Tesla and he was strong and he had probably gone to kill someone because he would be angry and need something to do. None of them realized how truly sorrowful he was, and what he would do to end that sorrow.

Nikola Tesla, who had lived five lifetimes, the world's only vampire; had gone to commit suicide because he had saved the world.

It took the arrival of Helen Magnus to make them realize.

There was a loud beeping noise from the medical machines attached to Helen. The Big Guy's head perked up and he stood up, staring in simple shock and surprise. There was nothing more surprising at that moment.

Helen's eyes flickered open. She was alive. The real Helen. Not Afina; she was alive and somehow Tesla had done it.

She was back.

*.*

"So we think the surge of power that Tesla released when he destroyed an electric circuit on the machine provided enough electricity to revive you," Henry stated.

"Where is he?" Helen asked. She had seemed very strangely herself, and everything very strangely indeed had just fallen back into place. It was as if she had never been gone and everyone hadn't given up hope.

But underlying that there was something which The Big Guy would gruffly describe later as 'some sorta big shock'. It was something that none of them could explain and it frustrated them when they tried to explain it to themselves in the turmoil that was their brains.

"Er..." Will said. Then they realized Tesla was missing.

Helen gasped. "Dear God."

"What is it?" Kate asked. Will stifled a moan. He knew what Helen knew.

"I think he's gone to kill himself."

It was all so sudden, that it would appear none of them had a chance to think what was happening over properly. This was not the truth. It felt like they had an eternity to think over what had happened, and it still made no sense. All that made sense was that Helen was back and they had to stop Tesla from killing himself. They didn't question Helen when she told them her theory. They had heard his maniacal laugh, they had heard the hammer and seen the truly desperate look on his face. They had never thought that he would bow to suicide; they had thought he would survive after everything.

They had underestimated his love for her, and deep down they all felt guilty.

*.*

"Spread out over the cliff face. I'll take this side, Kate you take over there, and Will you search those coves over there."

They all nodded and she began to run. There was only one good word to describe her feelings as she raced along, and it was the same set of feelings that Tesla had felt while he tried to save her, and ultimately failed. She was desperate and that was the only thing that mattered as she felt like she was running out of breath. The cold air felt like it tore the insides of her lungs but she gulped it down anyway. If she didn't get to him in time...

Then she saw him. Falling in a perfect ark off the cliff. She couldn't call out.

He was gone.

"Oh Nikola," she whimpered.

But it wasn't his time to die.

**So you've added it to your favorites list. You've subscribed. But have you told me what you thought in words? Five people have! If you really want to find out what happens, review. Thanks again to Lara Jane Magnus!**

~Iceshadow~


	6. Roses

**Big thanks to anonymous Wiggiemom, foxfire222, Sanctuaria, Lara Jane Magnus, and Hannah Kelford! The last chapter...**

Chapter Six, Roses

"Can't let you do that old boy," John whispered in his ear. Nikola's blue eyes snapped up as the wind rushed by them. Suddenly, the world vanished into a world of purple and they reappeared in a hotel room, somewhere in Oxford by the look of it.

"You ruined my suicide," he said sourly. He winced again. Why did he always have to say the first thing that came to his mind?

"Look here," John said. It was obvious he had somehow found out about Helen and he wasn't in any better shape than Nikola. "Do you really think Psychology101 is what is going to run the Sanctuary network? Then need someone with half a brain on deck and if you knew Helen you knew what mattered to her. They need you; and as much as I'd love to go and give them all a helpful hand with the housecleaning and all, I don't think it'd be appreciated." He snorted.

Somehow his mind numbing grief had vanished and the old snide, sarcastic Nikola was back. "So, you finally admit I'm better than you."

John growled. "No, you're just the only one who can bend them around your little finger. Now get back to that Sanctuary."

*.*

As he strode along to the door of the Sanctuary in the gathering dusk, Tesla contemplated John's words. It was true Dr. Expendable couldn't run the Sanctuary. What bothered him was that John had been the little illuminating light; and the fact he had ruined Nikola's perfect suicide. He almost wanted the grief back so he could stop feeling guilty about being himself after Helen was gone. The old rivalry had perked him up a bit, he supposed.

It was all happening too quickly, somehow. Before he knew it, it had sunk in again that Helen was gone and she was never coming back. He decided before going into the Sanctuary he would go to the Sanctuary church where Ashley had been buried. He wondered if they had put up a grave for her there yet.

The twilight was fast approaching as Helen Magnus stood in the Sanctuary church, a rose tightly gripped in her trembling hand. There was no coffin for Nikola, not yet. She just stood, looking out the amazing night. Somehow, the stars didn't feel as bright as they once had. Nikola was gone; he had killed himself. Somehow she just couldn't believe it. It was Nikola. He couldn't be gone; he just couldn't.

Helen heard footsteps and thought it must be Will. Suddenly, the footsteps stopped.

"Helen!"

She heard his voice. She knew who it was before she turned around. Somehow even though it didn't seem real that Tesla had been gone, it didn't seem real that he was here either.

"Nikola," she breathed, her eyes wide.

Helen Magnus ran to her friend. He stood limp in shock, just staring at her. Of course, he had thought she was dead as well. Unexpectedly, as he stared at her, she threw her arms around him, a small tear escaping her eyes. Even she hadn't expected that.

His arms slowly wrapped around her, as if still trying to process the shock. A rose fluttered to the ground behind him, one she had dropped.

It took her a while to realize she was crying softly. She pulled away slightly, and didn't know what to say. Nothing made sense. As she looked back up into his blue eyes, suddenly something made sense. It was something she would never admit to anyone else, and something she could hardly believe herself.

The rose lying on the ground behind them, she leaned up and kissed him.

"I love you," she whispered into the night air.

**Happy Sanctuary filled Easter! THANKS TO ALL THAT REVIEWED, you helped me so much with this. :) I cried writing some of this.**

**Thank you all.**

**~Iceshadow~**


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